


Social Constructs

by TwistedViolets



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Lots of dialogue, Reggie being a somewhat decent dad, Reggie struggling with basic child care, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, Reginald centric, Various Nannies, child shenanigans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-15
Updated: 2019-10-15
Packaged: 2020-12-16 16:23:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21039188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwistedViolets/pseuds/TwistedViolets
Summary: Reginald never claimed to be a good father, in fact it’s highly debatable he was parenting material in the first place but that didn’t stop him from purchasing seven little impressionable humans.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Just Reggie dealing with his wee little children.
> 
> ~Mature rating simply because of possible future abuse.

"Say Daddy!" Susan coos to Number One who looks at her lamely. She rattles a small ring in his face before repeating herself. One giggles before grasping the purple ring, he squeezes and the ring makes a small poping noise.

"Come on! You can do it!" Susan continues to coo to Number One. Her voice high pitch, seemly in an attempt to seem more likable to the child.

Reginald leans back in his chair, his eyes focusing on the monitor that’s connected to the security camera in the nursery. The nanny has done well, her work is no more than mediocre but her willingness to stay has made her a valuable asset. Although like most nannies he’s betting it’ll be short lived.

"Da-" Number One slurs before dissolving into more giggles.

"You're so close," Susan rocks One side to side as she smiles.

"D-Da..."

"Almost there sweetie."

The ring crackles again, making an audible pop that stops Suzan in her tracks. She stares at the child, looking at One strangely before another pop happens. The ring snaps in half and falls onto the floor.

Suzan looks to the child as if it's an untamed animal and not a harmless child as she did before. She takes a deep breath before turning around and sitting One in his crib.

"Shhh," she shushes his small cries for attention.

She picks up the two big halves of the ring and takes them to the trash. Her hands are shaky, she's unnerved.

Another nanny gone.

————————————————————

"Daddy!" Number one says, running up to him only to bury his face into his leg. "Can we play?" His child asks him with big puppy eyes.

He looks down at him before looking up at his other children. They are all sleeping in what Nancy, the newest nanny considered nap time. She said it was vital that little children get enough sleep.

Which he knows is true to some extent but he also knows that too much sleep can be detrimental to growing minds.

"No," he said, pressing a hand against One's small frame and pushing rather gently. "I'm busy," He informs little One and the sad frown that fell over his face pulled on something in his chest.

He hates the feeling. He wonders why the books never prepared him for this. The sudden drop in his chest, the sudden feeling that falls over his mind-almost as if he's asking himself what he could have done instead.

He's determined to ignore that feeling or better yet get rid of it completely.

He walks away.

One watches him leave.

————————————————————

"Sit!" He barks the order at Four who sticks out his tongue in response. "Number Four!" He growls, grasping his son's wrist, pulling him down.

Four yelps as his naked butt hits the steaming hot water of the bath. "Hot!" He exclaims, squirming, his legs kicking water out of the tub. 

"Shush," he says, grinding his teeth at his son's childish ways. "The water is barely heated."

Four sniffles, tears pooling in his eyes. 

"Knock it off Four," he says squeezing shampoo on his head. "Close your eyes unless you want it to burn." Four closes his eyes and he rubs in the shampoo.

This is ridiculous he thinks as he rubs Four's hair, suds form as he scrubs.

————————————————————

"Stay in bed Five," he lectured as Five blatantly looked away.

"I had to pee."

"No excuses, there is more than plenty of time before lights out for you to use the restroom."

Five looks the other way while wringing a hand in his pajama top. 

"Do we need to discuss this further?"

"No."

He looked at Five, really looked at him deeply. He knows this isn't the end of this conversation, Five has a sort of walk to him. One that gave him almost a rebellious feel, as if maybe he believed himself to better than the rest.

It'd be a nice idea to explore if this air around him stayed but there is a good chance it may disappear with age.

————————————————————

Two is crying.

"Stop," he says, the crying is becoming rather annoying. It's a scratchy sound.

Two cries even harder, sobs wrack his small body. "I'm s-s-sorry!" He says, his lips trembling as tears coat his cheeks.

"What have you done?" He asks, putting his newspaper down as Two points to the grand hall. He stands, leaving his newspaper on the couch as Two leads him somewhere.

He's lead to a vase, one that is in a million small pieces on the floor. 

"I-I'm...s-sorry."

He looks at the vase, it's blue and worthless. Just a small fraction of his fortune, it means nothing in the bigger scheme of things.

He grabs Two's hand anyway and slaps it, lightly of course. His idea of light may not be the same as his children's but that isn't important.

Two holds his hand against his chest as a small red mark forms on it. "Clean this mess up! The broom is in the kitchen," he informs him before he goes back to the parlor to finish reading the newspaper.

————————————————————

Nancy has propped open the back door and allowed a breeze to flow through the house and the sound of rain to echo. It's pouring, there is no thunder or lightning, just a sun spreading its warmth.

His children are outside, jumping in rain puddles and getting absolutely soaked. It's inconvenient and nonproductive but it seems as if it's morale-boosting in a strange way.

He wonders if allowing them free time to do such silly things can subject as a reward. It's an idea he'll have to explore more indepth in the future, when his children are more suitable to become the soldiers he had envisioned them as.

For now, though, it's fine if they partake in such a silly activity. They smile, they laugh, they look as if they have never been more content in their lives.

He must discard this feeling that's been festering inside of him. He wonders for a moment if looking at them reminds him of his kind-hearted wife but then he knows he's wrong. It isn't that, it's the fact that he considers them like her.

Family.

That's a bad thing to do, especially in a dog eats dog world, and with the future as uncertain as it is he'd be better off if he stopped that mindset before it grew anymore. That's a hard thing to do and an even harder thing to swallow down.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mainly Reggie encouraging his little cinnamon rolls to pick locks.

He didn't like being family with the children but it really was all his fault for not properly explaining to the nannies. The kids should call Sir, or monocle, or even Hargreeves is preferable to 'daddy.'

There is Isn't supposed to be a emotional connection between them. This little string that's grown needs to be cut now.

"You've got to hold your tongue," Pogo says while picking a book out of a shelf. A book called Dracula, which is about a man made boogie man. A vicious beast that drinks human blood during the night.

He wonders where humans come up with such fairytale creatures.

"I don't need a lecture," he says, writing down in his journal, brainstorming more like.

'Number One has bent three forks and Five spoons. Super strength is a power that he must learn to control, unlike Three or Two who's powers can be turned off in a certain sense.'

"They are too young for you to break their spirits!" Pogo says, his voice a pleading tone. "You've got to show them patience and understanding unless you want to traumatize them."

He ignores the lecture.

He may not understand children but he can make soldiers- he has no doubts about it.

'For the time being One should be given temporary plastic spoons.'

————————————————————

Number Four seems more obtuse than his counterparts. He's very aloof and has almost a free flowing way about him but it's different than Five's. It's not that he's rebellious or prideful, it's more like he is comfortable.

Which all things considered is a good trait but can be disastrous in large doses.

Two is acting like he's a cop, a member of higher authority. Four is pretending he's a hardened criminal.

"You'll never catch me!" Four says, loud, running away from Two while kicking up dirt in the back yard.

He watches closely from the doorway, waiting for an opportune time to end this little game.

"I w-will too!" Two chases Four and when he has the chance he tackles him.

Four huffs a breath as he eats dirt. Two cuffs his hands with metal cuffs and Four whines.

"Ouch," he mumbles, spots of dirt already clinging on his face from having his cheeks shoved against the ground. "You put them too tight," he says and Two frowns.

"S-So s-s-sorry!"

"I'm suing!" Four kicks his legs as he pretend fights.

He takes a step towards them, immediately gaining their attention and turning the air to ice with his mere presence. He liked this, the authority that his children already understood he held.

"Here," he extended his hand, dropping a single paper clip inside of Two's hand. "Unlock him," he says and Two looks at him questioningly for a moment before unfolding the paperclip.

He takes the long, straight paper clip now and jingles it in the lock on Four's wrist. It's a messy, unknowing jiggling, making the process last ten more seconds then it ought to.

The handcuffs click and then they fall off of Four's wrist.

"That...adequate," he said, trying his best to hold his tongue.

Two smiles brightly, his cheeks turn a redden hue as Four sits up and rubs at his wrist. A little red line has formed around it.

————————————————————

"You should always keep these in your hair," he says, pushing a Bobby pin into Three's hair. She giggles as he places in another, pinning her hair to her forehead. "They make good lock picks, even better ones than paper clips."

"Lock pick?" Three echos back to him, almost questioning him as if she didn't understand.

He places a third and final one in her hair, shaking his head as she stares at him. 

"You'll understand soon enough."

————————————————————

He locked her door as he left her room.

He didn't wait around for her to figure it out. It may take her a moment to connect all the dots but she'll get there, she's a smart child.

He goes to his monitors and gets out his notebook while Three sings a song. One she made up completely and sounds rather heinous to him. She plays with the Bobby pin in her hair, taking them out and putting them back in again and again.

Then she gets up from her bed and attempts to leave, only to be faced with a locked door- to a child a seemly unmoving object. She may believe that she's trapped.

She panics, it's clear from the pale whiteness that starts to overtake her or the the small sobs that wrack her body as she pulls on the door handle again and again.

She's trapped with no escape.

She shakes, curling her hands around her body as she sits in front of her door, staring at it. Silence over takes her.

It's a moment, then another until ten whole minutes pass and she does nothing. He thinks for a split moment that the experiment was a failure until Three pulls out one of her bobby-pins and jams it in the keyhole and jimmies it.

It's not effective and she gets frustrated when it breaks. She throws it on the floor before pulling another pin out of her hair. She shoves it in the keyhole and moves it more slowly inside, more precise.

She doesn't break it this time.

It takes her approximately seven minutes to pick the lock. When she gets it and the door opens, she smiles, her tears already drying on her cheeks.

The experiment was a success and a eye opener that there needed to better locks on their doors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ll be looking this over for typos tomorrow~ apologies for anything major.
> 
> This is really just a filler fic while I’m busy planning and plotting a actual decent Reggie fic.

**Author's Note:**

> So I’ve been itching to write something Reginald centric for so long. This fic is mainly practice so that I can get more comfortable writing Reggie so I can actually sit down and plot out a long 60,000+ words fic for him.
> 
> When I do sit down and write a full length Reggie fic my life will be complete. Until then stomach my poorly done practice writing.


End file.
